The Italian Roots of Ashkenazi Jewry

Anyone who has looked carefully at a High Holy Day prayerbook that follows the Ashkenazi tradition will have noticed the presence of liturgical poems (piyyutim) written by a man named Kalonymos or his son, Meshullam. This oddly named pair were part of a dynasty of medieval scholars who traced their roots to Italy. If the prayerbook is annotated, an even closer look might reveal several works by other sacred poets from Italy, like Amittai ben Shephatiah of Oria. Tamar Marvin explains how migration from Italy shaped the earliest Ashkenazi communities.